OU Football Makes Intruiging Wide Receiver Move Before Auburn Game

The Oklahoma Sooners are suffering an offense problem, and they’re trying to patch it mid-season. Having played just one game in the SEC — which was a 25-15 loss to the now No. 5-ranked Tennessee Volunteers — OU is looking to fix it’s offense ahead of a matchup against the Auburn Tigers on the road in Week 5.

The main storyline is certainly pertaining to the signal-caller. It feels like true freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. will be the starting quarterback for the Sooners after Jackson Arnold was benched in the first half of the Week 4 loss. The offensive line has struggled, too. But an underrated aspect of the season is the injuries plaguing the wide receiver room.

OU to move cornerback to wide receiver

In an effort to try and get a greater impact from the wide receivers despite injuries depleting the depth, OU is reportedly moving defensive back Jacobe Johnson — a cornerback from Mustang, OK — to wide receiver. The sophomore cornerback appeared in all 13 games the Sooners played in 2023, his true freshman season.

While at Mustang High School, Johnson was a two-way player. He thrived as a wide receiver, tallying more than 1,200 all-purpose yards and scoring 19 touchdowns as both a returner and receiver. Aside from the obvious production as a skill player, Johnson is 6-foot-2 and north of 200 pounds — adding some much needed size to the current production from the receivers.

With an elite defense, Oklahoma can afford to get creative and move a player like Johnson to the offensive side of the ball. The defense hasn’t caused any problems or lost the team any games. Evidently, it’s been a full 180 degree turn from the Lincoln Riley era. However, with Brent Venables in the third year as the head coach in Norman, the Sooners are having to get creative to try and get production from their offense.

Assuming Hawkins gets the much-deserved start against Auburn, getting Johnson into the mix as a receiver could double down in trying to give the offense some sort of spark. OU could also greatly benefit from some sort of shuffle on the offensive line.

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Follow Kade Kimble on Twitter.